27 February 2006

Thank you, Feb 26

Since I completed the Odessa hat, I've been waiting for inspiration for a pattern to knit a scarf with the rest of the yarn. I wanted to do a pattern that would complement the Odessa. Yesterday I think I found the perfect pattern. It was the knit stitch of the day from the 365 Knitting Stitches desk calendar: the garter chevron.









I think the textured linear design mimics the spiraling texture of the Odessa, which can't really be duplicated for a 2-dimensional scarf.
What do you think? Will they work well together?

I also have to mention that the friend who taught me to knit finally has started a blog of her own. Check out some pretty knitting.
Now just one other person I know needs to get her blog up and running. You know who you are.

21 February 2006

Fun with lace

For my next project I decided I would make a lace scarf with the skein of GGH SoftKid Mohair that I got for Christmas. This has been the perfect project to work on while watching the Olympics. Not that I'm participating in the Knitting Olympics, but it is a nice, quick project to do between feeding sessions.

And speaking of Olympics, has anyone else noticed that nearly every athlete has overcome some sort of adversity like a near-crippling accident or the recent death of a beloved relative? My husband and I have a theory that the media is behind all of the tragedy and so they will have some heart-wrenching story to talk about. You can almost imagine specially trained Olympic Adversity Specialists sneaking around in the months before the games wreaking havoc. Or maybe my husband and I are just evil...

Also of note, my LYS (Northampton Wools) is currently having a 20% off winter wool sale so I went yesterday and got 3 skeins Plymouth Encore, a superwash acrylic/wool blend in blue.


Can you guess who might be getting another sweater?

12 February 2006

Road trip

Yesterday we took Owen on his first road trip. We only went 2 hours away to visit relatives in Rhode Island, but it was an exciting trip. Happily Owen slept the entire time in the car and I was able to get some knitting time in (Dave was driving and, no, Owen wasn't riding on his lap).
I actually finished the Odessa hat!

















As you can see, it matches my winter jacket perfectly.

09 February 2006

hat progress


This is the promised close up of the beautiful blue yarn in the sun. Sigh. So pretty. It reminds me of Caribbean waters, which is where I'd love to be right now.

I ought to have an finished hat to show you by now, but it was not to be. I got this far before I realized that I wasn't making a hat, but rather a maternity sweater and since I'm not pregnant any more, I had to rip.

I consulted with Grumperina and she explained that even though we have similar-sized large heads, we really should knit hats that are about 17 inches in circumference as they will stretch nicely to fit snugly.

Anyway, I took it as a sign from the knitting gods that I was meant to make an Odessa instead. I'm making it without beads though since they wouldn't show up very well against the multi-colored yarn. It is knitting up quickly and this is how far I've gotten. With any luck I'll be able to finish it by the end of the weekend.


Oh, and I may as well throw in this picture of Owen wearing the booties that I knit him (the cats are still very suspicious of him).